


Small

by thebeasknees



Series: In The Bedroom Down The Hall [1]
Category: Dear Evan Hansen - Pasek & Paul/Levenson
Genre: Adoption, Angst, Evan and Connor are Understanding Dads, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Gen, Grandparents, I want everyone to be happy, It's in my vocabulary at this point, Lost siblings, M/M, Nightmares, Older Evan and Connor, Older Everyone really, PTSD in children, Past Child Abuse, Witness of child abuse, families, flash backs, found siblings, i use like way too much, lots of Macaroni, soft shit, this is gonna be cute, this is self indulgent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-19
Updated: 2020-08-06
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:13:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25382149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thebeasknees/pseuds/thebeasknees
Summary: Evan and Connor were getting a kid.An actual, real life kid. A little girl.
Relationships: Alana Beck/Zoe Murphy, Cynthia Murphy/Larry Murphy, Evan Hansen & Heidi Hansen, Evan Hansen & Jared Kleinman, Evan Hansen/Connor Murphy
Series: In The Bedroom Down The Hall [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1838158
Comments: 32
Kudos: 55





	1. You Don't Have To Speak, Don't Need To Talk To Me

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoy! Tell me what you think.:)
> 
> (All song titles will be from the song Butterfly's Repose.)

Evan and Connor were getting a kid.

An actual, real life kid. A little girl.

And it's not like it was a surprise- it all really started when they were 18, and fresh into a relationship (Not really fresh- They were a year and 2 months in), and both of them were planning to take a break for a year before they went to start college. Connor was yelling about some new thing that Larry Fucking did, and he was absolutely not happy. It was at Evan's house, since Connor always went there when being at his house was too much- and Evan was absolutely not complaining , because Connor was welcome at anytime any day. 

That's why he had a key.

But anyways, Connor was screaming about another thing Larry Fucking did, and scratching at his arms and throwing his hands in wild motions. 

"It's like he doesn't even care that I'm doing better! Like I'm not at a risk to fail, I'm going to college, I'm getting help and trying to not argue with him anymore but he just doesn't care! Like he purposefully wants me to get angry at him, Evan, I'm so fucking tired of him. I swear, when we get a kid, I'm never going to treat them like this. Anything like this." Connor said, and he just kept on going like he didn't even notice the sentence. And Evan froze because.

Kids? 

And yeah. Evan liked kids, he would probably get them some day, but like. Not now obviously. Cause like. Their basically still 18 but.

Connor was it for Evan. There was no other person for him. So like. Their gonna have to talk about this some day, right? And Connor said 'when' they get kids. Like it wasn't even a question. It bubbled up something in Evan's stomach. Connor must have noticed that Evan went quiet, cause he pauses and it takes him a moment to realize what he said a few sentences ago. "I. Shit Evan, I didn't mean to..." 

"No! No I'm not bothered. At all. I mean like. Obviously not now cause 1. We still live with our parents and 2. Uhm.. I'm like.. Still kind of a child. Basically. And I probably won't be ready for that for like another 7 thousand years- but like-"

Connor looks a bit stressed, "Of course I know that, Evan, I didn't mean now-"

"Yeah and. Connor I'm not sure when I want to but.. You're all there is for me. All there ever will be. So." Evan pauses and shrugs, and there's a little nervous chuckle after.

"Oh. You're.. It for me too. I mean. Yeah." Connor nods in agreement, crosses his arms and sits down. Nods again.

"So. Wanna talk more about what Larry Fucking did?" 

Connor smiled, and he didn't look that angry anymore, but he nodded anyway, and started where he left off.

-

Looking back on that whole ordeal, it wasn't a surprise they were here. A year ago, when they were 25, they signed piles on piles of adoption papers- with so many name signatures and bills that it hurt Evan's hand just thinking of it. The people said they would have the kid- the little girl, whoever she would be, a year from now. The age was 4-7, is what they put- and it wasn't really a surprise it took so shortly to get the kid. A year might seem like long, but comparing what they'd researched, it was pretty quick.

So now here they were.

Waiting for the little girl in the office of this orphanage, and Evan was anxiously rocking back and forth, because wow, everything felt so perfect. So perfect and amazing- it was still a surprise to him that everything was going so well.

Sometimes it still felt like he was 18, but, those times were getting less and less. Both of them didn't have to go to therapy as much.

Things were going good, for-not-the-first-time in Evan's life. 

The woman that was in the office earlier that was looking at them earlier with disgusted eyes walked in, tightly dragging a small hand behind.

Connor squeezed his hand. Evan squeezed back.

The little girl walked in. She was so tiny, so fragile it physically made Evan's heart wheeze. She had long, pitch black hair that went to her belly, and blue eyes. A few freckles here and there. She took a few steps back as Connor slowly got up, and when Connor saw that, he lightly lowered himself to the floor to kneel. He reached his hand out a little. She looked at it for a moment.

"Hi. I'm Connor. Nice to meet you. What's your name?" He hadn't heard Connor speak so softly and carefully since the last time he had to calm Evan down from a panic attack.

She looked at him, and then his hand, and then at Evan. Their eyes locked, and he waved at her. She waved back, and then looked toward Connor again.

She took a few steps forward. Connor looked hopeful. She reached out her little hand, and she took his, brushing her hair behind her ear.

"Evie." She had a very soft-spoken voice, very small and raspy. "I'm going with you?" Connor blinked a few times and nodded. Looked back to Evan and then back to her. "Yeah. Are you okay with that?"

It.took her a moment, and Evan held his breath. He knew that if Evie said she didn't want to go, Connor wouldn't make her. But then again, he didn't really think she had a choice since the social worker was looking at her expectantly. She nodded. She had a puffy sweater on and a grey rain jacket thrown over her shoulders- it was raining outside. The woman handed him the last paper to sign. He lazily wrote his signature on it and then pushed it towards her.

"Yeah. " She replied, and it was quiet, but it was something. 

"Okay. I'll get your bag, yeah?" Connor looked to the small pack of clothing that the social worker was holding and lightly stood up a little to grab it. "Okay. You wanna ride in the front or back seat?" Evan sometimes sat in the back seat because there was more space to stretch his legs-especially on rode trips like this. He wouldn't mind sitting in the back.

Evie smiled a little- Evan's heart did a flip, even though it wasn't much. She lightly resembled Connor, when she did that. Smile.

He could already tell that she was a sweetheart. He felt it.

"Back?"

Connor smiled. "Okay. Sure. This is Evan, alright? Just incase. You can call us whatever you want to though, okay?"

Evie nodded. "I can call you Dad?"

Evan choked up.

"Sure. But you don't need to if you don't want to." Connor's voice was wavering, slowly, and his voice cracked towards the end. It sounded like he was about to cry.

"Okay," She said, looking towards the door and looking back to Connor. "Can we go now?" 

"Yeah," Evan said, and he's pretty sure a tear or two rolled down his face, but right now he doesn't mind. "Come on, Connor. Let's get going." Connor started to walk side by side by Evie, the little girl, but she stopped them for a moment and grabbed onto his pointing finger. Then they started to walk again.

And the family (family?) Of three were on their way.

\--------  
The car ride was mostly silent, about 20 minutes in. They full ride home would be about 5 hours, so they had time to kill. Evie was looking out the window, tracing her little fingers around it. "Do you guys have macaroni and cheese?"

Connor looked surprised to hear her talk, but he nodded a little.  
"Oh yeah, totally. Tons." Her face lit up and she looked towards them. "Really? I thought macaroni was only on tv. Is it tasty?" Evan smiled a little, and looked towards Connor. "Yep. We can make you some for dinner, if you want some?"

A giggle erupted in the back of her throat. "Mhm. Okay. Yes please." She said, and Evie looked back out the window, tapping it a few times. "Can you put down the window?" She asked. Evan had forgotten it was on child lock.

They'd never had to put their car on child lock before.

Connor pressed a button and her window rolled down. She stuck her head out. He held back a laugh, and rolled down his window too. She smiled at him, a real, big smile that just lit up her little face, and she yelled from outside "Do you think there's gardens around here?"

Evan smiled. Of course she liked gardens.  
"Yeah. We have one at home. A really big one- there's a lake, too." The woods behind their house was completely safe, but it was very spacy and sometimes a little muddy. He didn't think she would mind, though.

"Okay, Papa. Do you have flowers? Flower crowns? Can we make flower crowns?"

Connor got a big grin on his face that he tried to bite down. Evan nudged him a little and smiled. He tried to not comment on her calling him Dad, and instead, named all the flowers they had. 

And also for not-the-first-time in Evan's life, he had a full idea of what tommorow might be like.


	2. Baby, I Already Know

Connor has his hair up, and he's lazily stirring the mac and cheese while Evan takes Evie a bath. Apparently, it is not going well, from the very eccentric giggles he can hear from the bathroom while Evan goes 'Evie, hunny, stop moving,' and then even more laughter. It's very entertaining to listen to, actually. 

And then she's out of the tub.

Her little head of hair is wrapped in a towel, because Evan couldn't get her to stay still so he just decided to let it dry by itself. Her pajamas are a size too big, but she doesn't seem to mind. 

She waddles her way up to the stove and jumps up a few times, her lips pressed in a firm line. Connor looks down at her. " Hey, Ms." He looks at the macaroni and cheese. It should be done in 5 minutes- he starts to get a plastic plate for her ready. "Wanna see?" He says, eyes glancing towards to pot. She's already got her hands up. "Wow. Not even a thank you? A please? I'm hurt. How could you, Eve?" He says, but still picks her up so she can see. She grabs the spoon and mixes it a few times before shaking her feet around to get down. He let's her go. "Go sit at the table for me, yeah?"

She nods and goes to sit down, (witch takes her quite the while and she has to parkour her way into the chair, letting out a satisfied 'hurray!' After she finally got onto it.) He comes with her plate and sets it down. After her going on and on and on for at least her whole meal about how Absolutely Amazing This Perfect Macaroni Was. And it was box macaroni but.. Connor would take it. Evan said he wasn't hungry and told Connor it could be his turn to put her to bed first- witch. Wasn't that annoying, honestly. It was easy to put Evie to sleep. At least so far. If she had a few blankets, a story read to her, and several pillows, she was good. It seemed she liked her room, too- it wasn't very girly, and it was rather plain if the toys weren't out since they decided to let her grow into it as she got older.

'As she got older.'

God. Connor didn't even want to see her get older.

He was okay like this. 

As he got into his bed, with Evan snuggled into his side, he was sure he would never get sick of this.

\-------

A scream ripped through the entire house, loud and high and all-too-terrified. Little baby sobs followed it, and Evan was already half-way into the room before he even knew he was awake, Connor following behind him. Evie was shaking in her bed, her tiny fists rolled into balls into the bed sheets. 

"I didn't- I didn't mean to, I-" she was mumbling and whispering little phrases as the tears rolled down her eyes, and it was heart breaking, seeing her like this. 

"Eve, baby, breath with me, okay? You gotta breath." Evan reaches out to touch her cheek, but hesitantly- he doesn't know if she's okay ok to be touched yet, but she leans into it, and then he pulls her into her chest while Connor looks at her, concerned. She calms down, after a while. Looks tired. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry for being loud, are you mad?" Who would ever be mad at a kid for something like this? Who would ever be cruel enough to be that much of a ass?

Apparently whoever gave her these nightmares. Connor is quick to answer. 

"No, no, of course we aren't. We aren't mad at you, not one bit, okay? Get back to sleep." Connor lightly pushes her out of Evan's grasp, covering her back up, and as she slips back into sleep Evan looks at Connor. ".. Something happened to her, Con. I know something did."

"Yeah. But we're gonna help her. She's gonna be okay. "

"What about when she goes to school?"

Connor takes a deep breath. Let's it out.

"She's safe with us. No matter what."

"I'm glad she's with us now," Evan says, and he starts to get up. Connor follows. The air feels thick and thin at the same time. Connor smiles and rolls his eyes. "Yeah, me too, Ev. Now get to sleep. We have to bring her to see everyone tommorow, okay."

They walk out the room and close the door behind them. Turn the hall light on, just incase.

"They're gonna go insane. She looks exactly like you."

Connor rolls his eyes, again, and grins, a giggle in his throat. Strangely, he feels proud. "Shut up, Ev. Love you."

The blankets are pulled over them.

"Love you more."


	3. My Love, Have No Fear

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Evie talks about stars with Zoe.
> 
> Larry and Connor have a talk.

The car drive to the house was long and mostly quiet. There were little reminders that Evie was still awake- the rock-rock-rocking of her feet or the sound of her hand against the wind. But that was it.

Until they got to the house. The Murphy house.  
Everyone was supposed to be there- that's where they decided to meet up.

And honestly, Connor didn't really wanna bring Evie to the house, the house that was once home, the house that seemed to be so, so loud and so quiet at the same time when he walked in with Evan by his side and a comforting little hand holding onto his pinkie for dear life.

"You don't have to talk, okay?" Evan whispered, witch quickly caught her attention. She nodded a few times, and then nodded another few. Her little smile spread across her face- nervous and shy but still Evie.

Zoe and Evie made eye contact. Connor heard Cynthia's voice crack. Heidi nearly fell out her chair.

Zoe approaches her a little quickly, but Evie doesn't falter. She stands her ground, and straightens her back up a little.

Connor smiles proudly. 

'That's my girl.'

"Hey. I'm Aunt Zoe-" She looked like she was nervous.

" Your makeup is pretty. Are you the princess of makeup?"

And.

What?

Evan genuinely giggles a little, because only in the 3 days he's known Evie he's learned that apparently, she has a very, very big imagination.

Zoe smiles, and her shoulders relaxed. "Totally. What are you the princess of?" Zoe says, and she kneels down a little to get closer to Evie's height.

" I'm the princess of stars. All stars are super close together, so they have to be family, of course. A star family. And their shiny, so." She says, and she looks very sure of herself. Completely convinced. Larry coughs a little, clears his throat, and he tries to sound serious as the words come out his mouth, but everyone in the room can hear the smile in his voice.

"Zoe, don't give her false belie-"

She quickly cuts him off, turning around a little to give him a bit of a 'shut up' glare and then turning around to face Evie. "He's the king of no fun."

Evie nods along while she goes and gets distracted by the movie playing on the tv, 'Alice In Wonderland', and another thing Evan and Connor are learning is that she is very, very easily distracted.

Well.

That went better than they'd expected.

\------

Through-out the night, Evie gives everyone princess and price kingdoms. Heidi, "Princess of The Sky", because Heidi mentioned she liked the sky when it was sunny out. Evie quickly changed Zoe to "Queen" instead of "Princess" because, in her words 'If you have a wife, than that makes you a queen.'

She named the two of them, Alana and Zoe, the Queens of Makeup. 

Larry was still the King of No Fun, but Evie decided he was very good at cooking, witch made him the King of No Fun (and also cooking.) Cynthia was the Queen of Pretty Things, because she had a lot of things that were pretty, like the flower garden outside and the kitchen and the paintings on the wall.

Connor was thoroughly enjoying her constant blabbering, and even starting to drift off on Evan's shoulder when he felt a tap at his shoulder. 

It was Larry. His Dad. 

Connor was still getting used to that saying, 'Dad', but he would get used to it, some day.

"Hey," Larry paused. Like he was afraid to speak.  
Connor paused and looked to Evan. He was asleep.

"Can we talk?"

\----

Outside, Connor lit a cigarette and put it to his mouth.

"I thought you quit. " Larry noted, crossing his arms.

"I know you thought I did. But really, what do you know?"

Larry paused.

"She's bright. Your little girl."

Connor smiled, a little, but only because hearing 'Your little girl' made him come to the realization again that she was his kid. He couldn't be happier about that.

This conversation, on the other hand...

"I know she is. But she was still put through shit, a lot, from what I've seen so far. She's gonna go to therapy and all that and just... I'm not gonna treat her like you treated me. So don't give me your advice. I don't want it."

Larry paused, again, and nodded. He even smiled, a little. His hair was very gray and worn out now.

" I wanted to say that I'm proud."

Connor looked at him. Nodded. "Okay. "

"Okay."

"Okay."

"I should get back to my girl. " Connor said, and he opened the door.

"Connor?"  
He turned around, annoyed, this time. "What?"

"I'm sorry."

Connor was half-way through the door when he answered.

"I know you are."


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The day before Evie's first day of school.
> 
> Or: Cookie dough, butterflies, and wives.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Mentions of possible child abuse, very, veryvery brief though.
> 
> Hhehehhheh

Everyone was trying to get in time with Evie. Heidi was going to get her in the morning, and Jared was going to bring her to get ice cream and then drop her off home.

She had a full day ahead of her, Evan noted. And even though he didn't want to pressure her into going anywhere, but she seemed quite fine, at the moment. She yawned lightly as she picked at her french fries from mcdonalds. 

"Papa, Dad, are we there yet?"

"No, hunny. But we'll be there soon." Evan said, glancing up from his phone.

She waited a second.

"Are we there yet _now_?"

Evan smiled and rolled his eyes, turning to look at her. She waggled her eyebrows.

" You ask me again, and all macaroni privileges are taken away for a week. You'll have to eat broccoli for dinner, I suppose-"

She gasped in horror, huffing and crossing her arms dramatically. She grumbled something under her breath.

Connor looked like he was genuinely about to burst with laughter.

When they stopped at the house, or you could say what used to be Evan's home, Evan got out the car and lightly picked up Evie, placing her tight on his back. They walked up to the door, and Evie whined a little. 

"Where are we?"

Evan was quick to respond:"At Grandma Heidi's house. Princess of The Sky, remember?"

Evan felt her relax, just a little bit. She nodded.

" You can go home any time, remember?"

Connor pursed his lips and looked at him. Evan rolled his eyes and pursued,

"Just ask Grandma Heidi to give you the phone an-"

"Evan. Eve knows. You know you can always call us, no matter what, right, hunny?"

Evie nodded. Evan, in his years of having married Connor, learned that Connor enjoyed giving nicknames to people. It was showing. Evie had all types of nicknames: Duck, Eve, Ev, Baby, Hunny, and it goes on and one and one. 'Duck' was the most used, so far.

Heidi opens the door. He's greeted with the smell of pinecones and hunny and new-house.

Of what used to be home.

She's barely aged- there are little signs of aging, tiny and barely there, little lines on her cheeks and wrinkles on her forehead when she offers him, Evie, and Connor a sweet, nurturing smile. She lightly reaches out her hands to pick up Eve, and even though it takes her a moment to think it through, she contently lets Heidi pick her up and place her on the side of her hip, and lightly set her down.

"Hi, Evie." Heidi says, smiling, a little, and Evan can hear that she's about to cry.

He really, really doesn't want her to.

Heidi turns to him, and gives both Connor and Evan kisses on the cheek, looking back down to the little girl that anxiously waited for instructions.

"Bye bye, Papa. Bye bye, Dad." Evie said, and she gave both Evan and Connor a hug before turning to look at Heidi. As Connor lightly grabs him to bring him away from the door, he hears from behind him:

"I've got cookie dough. Wanna make cookies?"

And his sweet little girl giggle and her little footsteps rush into the house.

That's how he knew he didn't have to worry. Evie was going to have a good day.

He was sure of it.

\---------

Heidi was.. 

Surprised, to say the least, when she offered to babysit Evie for the morning and Evan and Connor actually said yes.

Evan looked partly worried, but he didn't say much, as he was dragged away by Connor and into their truck.

She was _so_ proud of him.

Unbelievably proud, actually, from the moment he was in her arms. He'd grown so much, and now he had a steady life and a kid and _Connor_ , somebody that genuinely cared about him.

He didn't give up. At least, in her eyes. He tried.

He was trying.

Heidi looked down to Evie, who was very aggressively grinding down the cookie dough in the bowl with much concentration.

"Ready for me to poor the chocolate chips in?" Heidi asked quietly, almost scared of scaring her away. Evie look up at her and smiled, stepping down from the stool and twirling around in circles.

"Yeah!" Evie said, still twirling in circles for whatever reason and nearly falling head first into the kitchen floor. 

Heidi chuckled, and she poor's the chocolate chips in and mixes the batter a few times.

 _Kids_.

She grabbed to cookie cutters in the bottom drawer and took them out, lightly grabbing the bowl of cookie dough and poor's it into a pan, handing a few to Evie as she stumbled her way over. They were the ones Evan used to like the most.

They were tree cookie cutters.

Evan used to say that it was ridiculous that tree cookie cutters were only used to christmas.

Heidi then got another pan, placing the cut cookies and laying them on the pan, lightly scooting it into the stove.

Heidi is absolutely in love with this kid. With Evan's kid. 

She knows that she might have not done her best at raising her son,

But maybe this was a second chance.

Just the thought maybe makes her a little bit of a sap.

And maybe she basically lets Evie eat all the cookies. Maybe she even makes a whole other batch?

Maybe she even plays dress up and does other embarrassing things for a middle-aged woman like her to be doing in the first place.

 _Really_ , who's business is it anyway?

\-------------

Jared was nervous.

Yes, he's _aware_ that it's fucking dumb or whatever to be nervous about meeting a kid, but he's nervous.

All of that seems to fade, though, as a little girl walks out with little butterfly pins in her hair and a shy smile on her face.

She's absolutely adorable. He literally goes through baby fever just looking at her. His whole heart goes ' _aw_ ,' and it's gross.

But it's nice.

She also looks exactly like what Evan and Connor's biological kid would look like if they weren't dudes.

She's got Connor's hair and eyes and Evan's face shape. It's weird how similar she looks to them, actually.

Heidi is walking next to her, and she lightly picks her up and puts her into the back seat. Waves them off as they drive away.

Evie is silent the entire time.

Jesus, he _cannot_ be getting nervous around a kid.

" Do you like ice cream?" He says, randomly, because what the fuck is he supposed to say?

_Hey, kiddo, did you happen to be abused when you were in the system, possibly by a man who looked like me which is leading to this silence or are you just shy?_

And he's seriously considering that, at the moment, but then her face lights up and she smiles. _Aw,_ his heart goes.

"Yeah! I also like butterflies because their super pretty and big and stuff. And blue. And purple. Purple is my favourite color, by the way. It would ve nice if there were purple ice cream flavors, though I'm sure they wouldn't be that interesting, because like. Nevermind, I'm getting side tracked, " Jared notices she pronounces it wrong. She says it like tra- acke- ded, and he had to physically stop himself from laughing.

"But um.. Auntie Alana and Zoe are wives?" She says, and it takes him a moment to process how she just went from her interests to _wives._ He nods.

"Yeah, they are." He makes a turn. Only five minutes from the ice cream place.

"I want a wife, one day. So we can live in the stars and have a star kingdom and hug." She says, rolling down her window.

 _Well_.

 _'I mean_ ,' his brain says, ' _Mood_?'

He doesn't really know how to respond to that, so. He just responds with the first thing that comes out his mouth.

" _Same_."


	5. Remember, My Dear

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Evie's first day of school.
> 
> (Or: Evie finds out a lot of things about herself, and she also finds a friend.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! This is the last chapter to this part of the story- there will be three parts to this. Small (this one, which is finished) Growing, and lastly, The Empty Bedroom.
> 
> Thank you guys for being so patient with me!

Connor genuinely, actually hears Evan groan when the alarm goes off and Connor shifts away from his arms, and Evan whines a little something along the lines of 'waitwaitwaitwaitwait-' as they both get up.

The morning is buzzy and pink and warm, and Evie walks with a slow pace around the house, her little feet tap tap tapping against the cold floor.

It takes forever to get her into some clothes- whining and even some crying, but it gets there.

They have to take her a shower and try to teach her (again) how to brush her teeth successfully, because she continues to not brush her tongue all the way.

Evie is still huffy and whining and crossing her arms, refusing to talk. Connor and Evan consider homeschooling her, but neither of them are home enough, especially during the school year, to teach her like that.

Connor let's her bring her blanket with her as she drives her to school, and also lets her bring her stuffy that she named 'plant'. It's a panda. She holds onto him to whole way.

Evan walks with her to the teacher, and Connor rushes after him. 

Evie's collar for her dress is a little wonky, and Connor reaches out to fix it.

"I'm so proud of you, Duck. You can call us if you want, but try to be good for me, okay?" Connor whispers, and she gives him a big hug before waving 'bye bye' all the way to the door.

Evan is tearing up.

"She's gonna be okay." Connor assures, even though even he's not really that sure.

Evan laughs, but it's sad. Withering. "Yeah. She's strong. She will be."

Connor nods, feeling a little more comforted. Yeah. She's strong.

Evie's strong.

She'll be good.

\----

Evie likes school.

And it's firstly because she's never really been to a real, big school before, and everything is so bright and pretty and interesting. 

The teacher is nice- Ms. Beck. She lets Evie draw when she's all done with writing her ABC's, and that's nice.

What Evie doesn't like about school, though, are all the boys. They're really mean so far and they pull her hair and call her Dad's things that she assumes are mean because of how they say it.

They get in trouble.

But it still hurts Evie's feelings, just a little bit. 

She gets paired up with a really pretty girl, and her name is Alice- she knows so because Alice told her. Now their spreading paint all over their hands, and Alice is tapping her feet on the ground.

"My parents are making cookies today. "

Evie frowns, because now she misses grandma Heidi- Grandma made really really good cookies. Specially chocolate chip one's.

"My parents never make cookies. Dad says Papa is the one that bakes things."

Alice makes a little circle of paint with her hands on the paper, and she smiles as she looks up at Evie.

"I'll bring you some." Alice says, and Evie nods, even though she's sure she only likes Heidi's cookies.

"Alright, class!" Ms. Beck claps two times, and she raises her hands up.

The whole class does too.

"Come and clean your hands at the sink, we're gonna go outside to read." Ms.Beck orders, and a crowd of little messy hands and small heads rush over to the sink all in a line- and when everyone is all done, they all sit in a circle.

Evie and Alice sit together next to each other, and Evie quickly realizes that Ms. Beck is really nice, and good at story telling. She wears long skirts with strawberry's on it and she has long red hair.

Ms.Beck kind of looks like Ms.Frizze.

Evie decides to voice that opinion when she raises her hand and Ms.Beck calls on her. "Yes, Evie?"

"You look like Ms.Frizzle."

Ms. Beck laughs and nods, looking back to her book. "Thank you for the compliment, Evie. No more raising your hand, though, okay? Unless you gotta use the bathroom. This is quiet reading time." Ms. Beck explains, so Evie nods and wraps her arm around Alice's. 

She does like class, so far.

It's kind of fun.

She still misses home, though.


End file.
